Court of Appeal: Life sentence for a citizen who sought to communicate with Iran to harm the country's interests
The State Security Appeals Court issued several rulings in cases involving state security, sympathy for Iranian attacks, incitement of sectarian strife, and conspiracy with Tehran. It sentenced a citizen to life imprisonment for conspiring with Iran, organizing Hezbollah, meeting with its leadership, training in weapons handling and drone operation under the supervision of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah operatives, and harming the country’s national interests.
Investigations by a State Security Department officer revealed that the defendant joined a banned group (Hezbollah), which operates in Iran’s interest, and conspired with one of its representatives, Hussein Al-Mutawaq, receiving instructions from him. He trained in weapons handling and combat arts in the Iranian city of Qom, with the intent of carrying out hostile acts in Kuwait and harming the nation’s interests. He also met with members of the terrorist Hezbollah organization during his repeated visits to Iran. A surveillance drone for photography was seized from his possession, according to instructions from a defendant in another case. The court increased the sentence to life imprisonment after the Assize Court had initially sentenced the defendant to 10 years.
The Appeals Court also sentenced a citizen to three years in prison, overturning a previous sentence of two years and four months, for insulting the Rightly Guided Caliphs, inciting sectarian strife, disparaging Shia citizens, and harming national interests by contacting a bank while intoxicated during the reprehensible Iranian attacks on Kuwait, providing false information, and causing panic among the public. He was acquitted of the charge of intentionally broadcasting misleading rumors about the country during wartime.
The court also ruled to exempt a female citizen from punishment, placing her on bail of 1,000 Kuwaiti dinars with a two-year good behavior bond, and overturned a three-year prison sentence for inciting sectarian strife and broadcasting false news in WhatsApp and Snapchat group discussions. It upheld her acquittal on charges of broadcasting false news during wartime and promoting the ideas of the terrorist Hezbollah organization.
